


boy with a heart

by andnowforyaya



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Gen, Light Hurt/Comfort, wayv family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2021-02-18 12:55:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21511390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andnowforyaya/pseuds/andnowforyaya
Summary: “Where’s Ten?” Kun counts the bodies around the table again, and again comes up with five boys, six including himself. He frowns while he ladles the tofu stew bubbling away on top of their portable gas range, the table’s centerpiece, into individual bowls for serving. Yangyang, who's in charge of doling out rice, brings it over three bowls at a time.“He won’t come out,” Guangheng says, taking his stew from Kun’s hands. “He says his stomach still hurts.”
Relationships: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Qian Kun
Comments: 51
Kudos: 579





	boy with a heart

**Author's Note:**

> this is entirely self-indulgent :)  
> #

“Where’s Ten?” Kun counts the bodies around the table again, and again comes up with five boys, six including himself. He frowns while he ladles the tofu stew bubbling away on top of their portable gas range, the table’s centerpiece, into individual bowls for serving. Yangyang, who's in charge of doling out rice, brings it over three bowls at a time.

“He won’t come out,” Guangheng says, taking his stew from Kun’s hands. “He says his stomach still hurts.”

“I’ll check on him later,” Kun promises the group. It’s movie night for the team, and everyone must attend -- no exceptions save for the most dire of circumstances. That is the agreed-upon rule.

“His stomach was just fine during practice,” Yangyang says. “He’s just being dramatic.” He joins the group and excitedly grabs the bowl of stew Kun offers to him, placing it on the table with more noise and less grace than Kun would have liked. Dejun immediately reaches out to twist the youngest’s earlobe between his fingers. “Ow!”

Dejun imitates his short cry of surprise. “ _ Ow! _ Hey, you shouldn’t speak ill of people who aren’t present.”

“Kun Ge!” Yangyang whines to Kun. “That hurt!”

“Respect your elders,” Kun deadpans. He adds to Dejun, “Don’t torture Yangyang like that. It just encourages him.”

Yangyang grins at Dejun smugly, and Dejun reciprocates by sticking out his tongue at the smarmy expression on his face.

“Let me try to get him,” Sicheng offers quietly beside Kun, already standing when Kun nods at him gratefully. Sometimes, being a team leader for a group of six rowdy, rambunctious boys really stretches Kun to his limits, making him feel like he’s herding a group of excited puppies all scampering off in different directions at the same time. He’s so appreciative of every single member of their group, but he’s especially appreciative of the many moments Ten and Sicheng and sometimes even Xuxi have stepped up to share and help him shoulder the burden of being the leader.

In Sicheng’s absence, the conversation turns to contemplating the movie they’ll be watching together tonight. Dejun and Yangyang are in the mood for something lighthearted and animated, while Guangheng wants action. Xuxi suggests a French film that makes the whole table pause and consider him curiously. Turning pink under their gazes, Xuxi clears his throat and explains, “It’s come up in my recommendations to watch a couple of times, yeah?”

Sicheng returns with no Ten, and the group decides on a romantic comedy. Kun looks back at the closed door to Ten and Guangheng’s bedroom with mounting worry and concern, but Sicheng touches his shoulder and locks him to his seat, anticipating that otherwise Kun would bolt up to check on Ten again.

“He’s okay. Just needs some time. Check on him after dinner, okay? And I can get the kids set up for the movie.” Sicheng squeezes Kun’s shoulder and shares a warm smile with him, one that calms the butterflies fluttering in his gut.

.

Kun knocks before opening the door to the bedroom and slipping inside, closing the door behind him. He holds a small container of warmed up some instant rice porridge in his hands. “Ten?”

The lump under the covers in Ten’s bed moves. Slowly, a hoodie-covered head emerges from the nest of blankets and pillows. Kun pads over and puts the porridge down on the nightstand beside the bed before taking a seat on the edge of the mattress, and Ten rolls over and blinks at him, his eyes wide and bright -- a little too bright.

“How’s your stomach?” Kun asks gently.

Ten gazes up at him, his mouth becoming pinched as he thinks. He reaches his hand under a pillow and pulls out his iPad, unlocking the screen with practiced familiarity. The drawing app is already loaded with a blank page. Ten swipes his fingers over the canvas and shows Kun what he’s drawn, holding the screen just under his eyes. It’s a frowny-face.

Kun frowns also. “Is it just your stomach? Or…?”

Ten shakes his head behind the shield of his iPad.

"Then, what?" Kun rests his hand over where he thinks the sharp curve of Ten's hip under the thick duvet might be and tries not to tear up when Ten's eyes well up with emotion. Sometimes it's hard for Ten to express himself in words. They get all jumbled up in his head, and the frustration of trying to untangle the mess and share it in such a raw, unfiltered state renders Ten mute instead. Kun, on the other hand, has always spoken well. His words come to him easily and swiftly like stacked dominoes in a controlled fall. "Can you show me, baby?" Kun asks.

Ten shows him. It's a drawing he must have been working on all afternoon and through dinner, because it's not a piece that Kun's seen before, and there's something about it that just feels raw and present. An unfinished boy whose feet fade into nothing, whose head is filled with shadows and knives, whose hands are bleeding. There is an empty hole in his chest where his heart should be. It is gripping in its jagged lines.

Kun points at the heart-shaped cutout. "What happened here?"

Ten shudders. When he puts his iPad down and turns his face into the pillow, shoulders shaking, Kun's heart sinks. Ten cries quietly so that no one else can hear.

"Baby," Kun whispers shakily, eyes starting to burn. "It's okay. You're okay." He lies down next to Ten, spreading himself along his body, and Ten goes to him like a tiny magnet, clutching at Kun and pulling at him until they are arranged together like puzzle pieces that have matched their edges. "You're okay," Kun says again. "You have a heart. You have us. You have me."

Ten curls up small under Kun's touch, under his hand curved over his waist, under the chaste kiss Kun presses to Ten's forehead. "Sometimes, it's like..." Ten starts hesitantly. When he blinks, his eyelashes glitter with his tears. "...a robot," he finishes, looking disappointed with himself.

Kun rubs his hand over Ten's side, then searches for bare skin under Ten's hoodie. His stomach is soft to the touch, and it jumps away from his cold fingers. Ten whines when Kun starts to pet him there but curls even closer to him, seeking comfort. "Sometimes you feel like a robot?" Kun guesses.

"Yes," Ten says in a small voice. "And then I don't work. I break."

"You're human, Ten," Kun says. "You've got to take breaks sometimes. We all do. And that's okay. I know what's expected of us is...great. But still, we've got each other if it ever feels like too much. I lean on you and the others all the time." When Ten doesn't say anything more, Kun continues, suspecting that he's on the right path. "When you mess up, it doesn't mean you're useless. Practice was hard today, but you kept going. The choreographer expects a lot out of you, doesn't he?"

"Everyone does," Ten says. He sighs under Kun's touch, relaxing little by little.

"Yes, but because we know you and love you," Kun says. He smiles. "Boy with a heart."

Ten's stomach jumps away from Kun's touch again, but this time the sudden movement is accompanied by a tiny gasp and Ten's shy, quick smile. Embarrassed, Ten hides his face against Kun's neck and mumbles, "Love you, Kun."

Kun wraps his arms around Ten and holds him close, comfortable in the knowledge that Ten is right where he belongs. "Love you, too," Kun says.

.

Kun and Ten squeeze into the armchair in the living room, Ten's legs thrown over Kun's lap, as Sicheng starts the movie. No one comments on how Kun slowly spoon-feeds Ten the porridge during the first half, nor how Ten falls asleep on Kun's chest during the second. When the movie is over, Xuxi carries Ten to bed and Guangheng slips under the covers to cuddle with his roommate. There is so much love in the dorm that Kun is nearly bursting with it.

Nestled into his own bed, he turns onto his side and whispers across the dark expanse that divides him from his current roommate, "I love you, Sicheng."

Sicheng, blankets pulled up to his chin in the other bed, wrinkles his nose. "Gross, Kun Ge. Good night." He rolls over with a huff as Kun chuckles under his breath. Then, quietly, Sicheng murmurs, "And I love you, too."

.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading <3 comments and kudos appreciated!
> 
> [my twitter](https://twitter.com/andnowforyaya) | [my cc](http://curiouscat.me/andnowforyaya)


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